In handling equipment for lifting and moving articles, use has long been made of negative pressure as a gripping function. The basic problem with negative pressure is that the lifting arrangement must close tightly against the article in order to obtain a lifting effect and that air must not be allowed to be sucked into the system anywhere else as otherwise the lifting capacity is lost. For lifting individual articles, this is not a major problem if the lifting arrangement can be designed so that it encloses the article. The problem is major, on the other hand, if a lifting arrangement and a negative-pressure source are to be used to lift many articles at the same time. A number of arrangements are known, which take the form of a lifting plate with a vacuum chamber comprising a number of passages out to the surface against which the articles to be lifted bear. Some of these plates have some form of blocking arrangement for the individual passages so, in order that negative pressure is not lost, the passages and the articles must be orientated in relation to one another so that all passages are covered so that a proper lifting negative pressure can be established. This involves laborious arrangement of the articles and also special adaptation of the lifting plates to the specific articles to be lifted.
A further disadvantage is that if an article comes loose during the lift, then the negative pressure and all the articles are lost. Certain plates have blocking arrangements for each passage, either in the form of mechanical valves or light balls which are sucked firmly against a seat and block the passage if it is not covered by an article. Known vacuum plates therefore have a relatively complicated design and construction and/or handling in order for the blocking arrangements to function correctly and have thus far not been really effective for lifting and handling many articles at the same time, and for lifting and handling many different types of articles with the same device.